Senior Procurement Specialist

The Land Development Agency (LDA) is a key Government Commercial Semi-State Body that delivers social and affordable housing on State and other lands. It is overseen by an independent board of directors and is funded with €3.75 billion of equity capital committed by the Government. It is also permitted to borrow up to €1.25bn

The LDA has commenced construction on various state sourced lands and is currently working on about 20 direct delivery projects that can deliver over 8,000 homes. It is also delivering affordable housing by working with private sector on an initiative called Project Tosaigh, which will yield a further 5,000 homes on land provided by housebuilders.

Additionally, the LDA is working on large-scale longer-term strategic areas by master-planning and bringing forward planning applications in locations such as Limerick Colbert Quarter, the Digital Hub in Dublin and Sandy Road in Galway.

The LDA is underpinned by a positive, collegiate, ‘can do’ culture based on our core values of Integrity, Results, Collaboration, Sustainability and Innovation. Our team is around 160 people and growing rapidly.

Role Purpose 

The Land Development Agency (LDA), a commercial semi-state body seeks a Senior Procurement Specialist to assist in delivery of a best practice procurement function. The successful candidate will work with the Procurement Manager to support all aspects of procurement across the group and operations including the development and implementation of the procurement strategy, identifying procurement needs, developing a procurement plan, managing a variety of tenders and negotiation of contracts.

The Senior Procurement Specialist will be required to work specifically with multiple internal stakeholders to further develop the procurement function providing specialist knowledge to ensure our tenders are comprehensive and fully compliant with Irish and EU public procurement rules, guidelines and regulations.

Key Responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities of the Senior Procurement Specialist include but are not limited to the following:

• Supporting the organisation in implementing the goals and requirements as set out in the Corporate procurement plan
• Developing policies and procedures and maintaining internal controls for the procurement function
• Promoting procurement awareness within the agency and updating teams on changes in procurement law
• Management of a procurement reporting systems to include a contract register to provide oversight of procured contracts and forecasted procurement requirements.
• Supporting the following administrative duties:
  • Partner and collaborate with internal business units and teams in defining, reviewing and agreeing detailed strategies in line with business objectives including significant construction projects
  • develop sourcing strategies by collaborating with business stakeholders, carrying out in spend analysis, and supply market evaluation to define and prioritise sourcing within the construction category.
  • Prepare and coordinate strategic OJEU and stand-alone tender documentation and oversee tender process including;
    • advice on selection and award criteria
    • advice on specifications
    • Drafting tender documentation using LDA templates
    • Management of the tender through e-tenders and OJEU portal.
    • Evaluate supplier responses and prepare clarifications for supplier award process
    • Carry out evaluations, organise consensus scoring sessions where relevant and prepare award and regret letters as necessary.
    • production of Regulation 84 reports
    • Preparation, co-ordination and execution of contracts
  • Ensuring transitional processes are in place in relation to services being transferred from an incumbent supplier to a new supplier.
  • Maintain procurement files to support C&AG review, internal and external audit
  • Provide regular reports on procurement activity to management team and budget holders
  • Contract management on completion of a competitive process with the relevant stakeholders for the duration of the contract
  • Ad hoc procurement duties as required

Knowledge & Experience

The successful candidate should be confident and commercially minded with at least 5 years previous experience gained in an equivalent procurement role and have:

• Industry exposure; knowledge of significant capital investment projects under the public procurement regime.
• Knowledge of and experience of using the eTenders portal
• Be able to identify and meet targets and savings through optimising procurement strategies.
• Previous experience of applying stringent compliance standards in a procurement function while managing the execution and documentation of tender processes
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplined team and demonstrated the ability to handle multiple tasks concurrently
• Organised and efficient with excellent attention to detail
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Delivered robust, efficient and methodical work methods
• Initiative and decision-making skills to prioritise tasks and drive results
• A willingness to embrace a challenge and work within an evolving / changing environment.
• A recognised qualification in procurement would be advantageous but is not a requirement (e.g. professional certification in procurement with CIPS or the equivalent)

The Land Development Agency (LDA) is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to promote and support a diverse and inclusive workforce, and we endeavour to provide reasonable accommodation.